The present invention relates to a structure for holding a key top used in a small-sized electronic equipment such as an inter-call receiver or the like, and particularly relates to a structure for holding a key top, which is simple and with which the key top can be attached to a casing easily and held stably.
One or more switches are provided in a small-sized electronic equipment such as an inter-call receiver or the like. A key top good and stable in manipulability of the switches, and low in manufacturing cost has been desired.
A conventional key top is arranged such that a key top itself is constituted by a spring structure or an elastic material, or otherwise, a spring, a cushion or the like acting as an elastic member for return operation is interposed between a casing and a key top, as disclosed in JP-U-2-42292, JP-A-63-254629, JP-A-60-175330, and so on.
The key top of this type cannot employ a complicated holding structure to stabilize the key operation in a case where it is applied to a small-sized electronic equipment such as an inter-call receiver or the like, since the small-sized electronic equipment generally has switches disposed close to each other and thus no sufficient space is provided for installation of the holding structure.
Such a key top is also available, that an elastic material or a spring structure was adopted for the key top per se in order to stabilize the key operation or in order to prevent abnormal sound or looseness from being caused by vibration of a calling vibrator or speaker singing. The key top is attached to the inside of a casing. The key top requires an additional extra holding mechanism, or the use of an elastic member such as a spring, a cushion or the like to possess the returnability of the key top. This results in the increased number of component parts, and the complicated assembly.